Nonviolent Resistance Activist Released

Ashraf Abu Rahma from Bil’in village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, was released by the Israeli Prison Authorites on Sunday evening after being detained for six and a half months.

Ashraf Abu Rahma, bound and shot in the leg

The army arrested Abu Rahma for his participation in the weekly nonviolent protests against the illegal Annexation Wall and settlements.

Israel accused him of “incitement” and of organizing the nonviolent protests; he was also ordered to pay a 1000 NIS fine.

In 2008, Abu Rahma was detained during a nonviolent protest; he was cuffed and blindfolded before one soldier held him while another soldier shot him in the leg.

The shooting was caught on tape by a young Palestinian woman from Bil’in, and was handed to a number of human rights groups to expose the Israeli crime. The soldiers subsequently detained her father as an act of punishment.

In August 2011, Abu Rahma was attacked by Israeli soldiers and was injured in his ear and arm; he currently needs surgery in his ear.

Abu Rahma's brother, Bassem, and his sister, Jawaher, were killed by Israeli fire in different nonviolent protests against the Wall and settlements.

Bil’in is a repeated target for Israeli invasions and attacks due to its leading role in creative and persistent nonviolent resistance against Israel’s occupation of Palestine, the illegal apartheid wall and the illegal settlements.